


See Me Through

by annemari



Category: Bandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-30
Updated: 2012-11-30
Packaged: 2017-11-19 22:44:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/578438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annemari/pseuds/annemari
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alicia has always hated group projects. That changes when she gets paired up with Lindsey Ballato.</p>
            </blockquote>





	See Me Through

**Author's Note:**

  * For [inlovewithnight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/inlovewithnight/gifts).



> Written for **femslash12**. Thank you so much for alpheratz and cee_m for looking this over for me!  <333 Hope you like it, Night!

Alicia drops her tray on the table with a clang. She winces at the loud sound it makes and sits down.

"What's up?" Elissa asks, stealing a cucumber slice from Alicia's plate.

"Art project," Sarah says.

" _Group_ project," Alicia says, and stabs at another cucumber slice with her fork. She's not actually that pissed off about it, just vaguely frustrated. Plus cucumber slices always try to escape from her, using extra force is totally warranted. 

"Well, you can just—" Elissa points at Sarah and Alicia in turn, her eyebrows raised.

Alicia shakes her head. "Teacher assigned us into pairs herself."

Elissa frowns. "Sucks."

"I got Bell," Sarah says, sighing. "Fucking great."

Alicia takes a bite of her sandwich and makes a sympathetic face. Sarah will probably end up doing all the work herself.

"Who did you get stuck with?" Sarah asks, turning to her. "I totally missed that."

Alicia swallows quickly. "Ballato."

Sarah widens her eyes. "Lindsey? Wow."

Alicia shrugs. "It'll be fine. I guess."

Lindsey Ballato is both Mrs. Lee's favorite and the apparent bane of her existence. Alicia's seen some of Lindsey's art when Mrs. Lee has given them as examples of various styles, and not one school art show goes by without her stuff being on display. She—and everyone else in the class—has also heard the two of them arguing about styles and technique and whatever. At length.

"You know she probably gets super intense about her projects," Sarah says.

"So do you," Elissa points out, and Alicia nods.

Sarah huffs. "Whatever. I'm just saying, it'll be interesting."

Alicia nods again. "More interesting than being stuck with Bell." She smirks and Sarah sighs.

"She's the one with the—she's friends with Kitty and her crew, right?" Elissa asks. At Sarah's nod she whistles. "She's hot. Like, if this school was ruled by art geeks she'd totally be on the top."

Alicia shrugs. Lindsey's probably higher on the popularity scale than them, but it's true that mostly they're all just on the periphery. Alicia likes it that way.

"It's weird that we don't run in the same circles," Sarah says. "The school's small enough. Like, have you ever actually talked to her?"

Alicia pulls a face, wrinkles her nose. "Probably in passing, sure. I don't know." Never one on one, she thinks, or recently. She'd remember that.

Elissa shakes her head. "The rest of them are band geeks. We don't do band."

"They're not in band," Sarah says, eyebrows drawn together. Alicia wipes ketchup off her fingers and swallows the last piece of her sandwich. She looks between Sarah and Elissa.

"They're in _a_ band," Elissa says. "And I think Kitty did actually join band this year."

"How do you know?" Alicia asks.

"We live on the same street, remember?" Elissa says. "Our moms hang sometimes."

"Shit, I have to run," Sarah says. "I need to check something before class. We still on for tonight?"

Alicia nods and finishes her orange juice, grabs her bag. "Movies at my place, but you better bring your own food. I don't have time to go by the store."

"Yeah, yeah," Sarah says. "See you." She drops a kiss on Alicia's head, and brushes her arm against Elissa's as she moves past them. Alicia smiles to herself. She fucking loves her friends.

~

Alicia approaches Lindsey the next day after French. Her locker's not that far from Alicia's, so Alicia squares her shoulders and walks up to her.

"Hey, Lindsey?"

Lindsey looks up with a confused expression, then straightens up. "Yeah?"

"We're doing the art project together? I'm Alicia."

"Oh, yeah," Lindsey says. "I know who you are." She flashes Alicia a smile, and tucks a stray strand of hair behind her ear. Her hair's up in pigtails and her mandatory school vest has a few pins on it. "I was thinking about coming to find you today, actually. You beat me to it."

"Oh," Alicia says. "Okay, cool. Uh, so do you want to—I don't know."

"Well, we need a theme," Lindsey says, and closes her locker door. "Any ideas?" She looks at Alicia, right into her eyes.

Alicia shrugs. "Not really."

Lindsey nods. "Well, we're gonna have to come up with one soon. Do you have time during lunch?"

"Yeah, sure," Alicia nods.

"Great," Lindsey says and smiles. "I'll find you?"

"Sure," Alicia repeats, fiddling with her sleeves.

"Great, see you then," Lindsey says and brushes past her. Alicia turns to watch her go, Lindsey's pigtails bouncing, her colorful tights drawing attention to her legs.

The first bell rings and Alicia goes to gather her things from her locker. A theme for the project. Sure. She can come up with one.

~

Lindsey does find her during lunch. She plops down in the seat next to Elissa and nods at the table.

"Hey, sorry if I'm intruding—"

"It's fine," Alicia interrupts her. She drops her sandwich on the plate and moves forward, chair screeching. "Uh, any ideas yet?" She hadn't had much time to think, herself, but maybe they can brainstorm something together.

Lindsey nods. "I thought maybe we could do something related to nature? Like, maybe scenes set in nature, something that's all details and then a further viewpoint on it."

Alicia sees Sarah tilt her head. "That's pretty good," Sarah says. "Me and Bell are doing something like that."

"Oh," Lindsey says, visibly deflating.

"I'm sure they won't be too similar, though," Sarah says.

"Yeah, Sarah's doing photography," Alicia says.

Lindsey's gazing at the table, a frown on her face. Alicia shoots a look at Sarah who shrugs.

"We can come up with something else," Alicia says.

"Like, animals," Elissa suggests.

Lindsey lifts her head, and looks at Alicia. "Animals?"

Alicia shrugs. She wasn't the one who suggested it, but maybe— "Like. Cats."

Lindsey tilts her head, looking considering. "Cats?"

"Yeah," Alicia says, warming to the idea. "Cats are awesome."

Lindsey grins. "Cats. Yeah, that's a good idea. That's awesome, really."

"Yeah?" Alicia asks, pleased.

Lindsey nods enthusiastically. "Great," she says. "We have a theme. Okay, well, I'm gonna run and grab a bite, but we should explore this more later. After school?"

"Today?" Alicia asks. The project isn't due till next month. "It's—Friday."

"Oh," Lindsey says. "Right. Next week then? I'll develop it more and then we can get started."

"Uh, sure," Alicia says, blinking.

Lindsey smiles again and gets up. "See you," she says and waves at them.

Sarah turns to Alicia after Lindsey's left. "Good luck."

Alicia shrugs and reaches for her glass of orange juice. "She seems nice." Lindsey does so far. She smiles a lot and she doesn't seem too uptight or whatever.

"Yeah, she seems nice," Sarah says. "She also seems like a control freak."

Alicia shrugs again. "Did you see how her face fell when she heard Sarah was doing something similar to her idea?" Elissa asks.

"No, hey," Sarah says. "I totally get that. That always sucks. I'm just saying that she'll probably be, like, a perfectionist. She's the artistic genius around her, you know, like Mrs. Lee keeps saying. She'll want to be in charge. That's all."

Alicia swallows hard. She looks over at Lindsey, far in the corner with her group of friends, smiling wide.

"It will be fine," she says. "She can do most of it, if she wants. I'm not that good, anyway."

Sarah nudges her. "Stop that."

Alicia shrugs. "Never mind," she says. "Did you do the extra reading for French?"

~

The weekend passes quietly, mostly. She goes to a show on Friday night and meets up with Pete and Gabe, Pete's new "friend."

She ends up on Gabe's couch, who apparently lives only a few blocks from her, and drags herself home early in the morning, early enough that no one's outside to see her. The sun's rising slowly and soon the glare is hurting her eyes. It's nice, though. She jumps at every sound, but mostly it's fine.

She sleeps for most of Saturday, till her mom comes to wake her up. On Sunday her father reminds her of college applications, effectively bringing her mood down, even though she tries to ignore it. Alicia's gaze stops on _Art_ when she's looking through her schedule later and she frowns. She's sure she can come up with something to do for her side of the assignment. Or maybe Lindsey already has something in mind for her.

She moves to sit on the bed, pulls her feet under herself, and leans her chin on her hands. Stabs jumps up on the bed to join her. Alicia picks up the cat and stares him in the eye. "And what do you want to be when you grow up?"

Stabs looks unimpressed, and Alicia sighs. "Yeah, I don't know, dude." She sets him down, and Stabs flops down on her bed, stretches himself out. Alicia scratches at his belly. She figures she can do, like, painting or whatever, if Lindsey suggests that. She'd rather do something more fun, though, something more _her_.

She lies down, and stares up at the ceiling. Stabs comes and settles on her chest, a warm weight. Alicia buries her hand in his fur and breathes out slowly. She'll figure something out.

~

Lindsey approaches her before art class on Tuesday.

"We have to confirm our theme with Mrs. Lee," she says, before she even says hello.

"Okay," Alicia says, slowly. "Uh, should I do it?"

"Oh, no, I can," Lindsey says. "Just, are we sure about it?"

"Yeah," Alicia shrugs. "Are you?"

Lindsey nods enthusiastically. "Great, I'll go tell her right now."

Alicia watches her talk to Mrs. Lee, watches her tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear. Lindsey shoots her a smile across the room when she turns and Alicia blinks, nods back at her.

She turns to her canvas and adjusts her footing, leans down to scratch at her knee with the end of her brush. She feels itchy, weirdly on edge. 

The whole class passes like that and by the end she's ready to jump out of her skin. Lunch is up next and she hopes some food will help, but as she's packing up her stuff, Lindsey appears next to her.

"Hey, do you have a second?"

Alicia tries not to frown (or worse, pout). "I'm—yeah, sure." She catches Sarah's eye and narrows her eyes at Sarah's raised eyebrow.

"I thought we should meet up after class," Lindsey says, "and get started. When are you free?"

Alicia shrugs one shoulder. "Tomorrow afternoon is good, I guess?"

Lindsey bites her lip. "I have band practice at five," she says.

"Where do you practice?" Alica asks.

"There's this place on Park street," Lindsey says.

"That's close to me. Can you come over before?"

"Yeah?" Lindsey asks. "Is four good?"

Alica nods. Her stomach growls and she hugs her backpack to muffle the sound. "Sure." She gives Lindsey her address, watches as Lindsey writes it down on her arm. It makes her feel strange.

Lindsey smiles at her. "See you tomorrow, then." She waves her fingers at both Alicia and Sarah and leaves.

Sarah doesn't say anything as she and Alicia rush to the cafeteria. It's probably because they're both practically running, hoping they'll make it in time to still get some of today's special, but it doesn't help Alicia with the weird feeling in her stomach.

~

Lindsey shows up still in her school uniform, her hair in neat pigtails, but her lips are a deep red that's definitely against dress code. Alicia steps back to let her in, feeling slightly awkward in her shorts and t-shirt.

Lindsey has a guitar case with her. Alicia inclines her head toward it and asks, "You play?" For some reason she thought Lindsey was the singer, fingers wrapped around a microphone, hips swinging.

Lindsey nods. "Bass." She sets the case down on the floor and sits down on the edge of Alicia's bed. "Oh," she says, happily. "Hi, kitty." She holds her hands out and Stabs trots dutifully to her like he does with all the guests. It's like he needs to make sure from up close whether he likes someone or not. If he doesn't, they're fucked.

Lindsey seems to know how to handle cats, though, so Alicia leaves them be. Stabs jumps up on the bed and stretches out. Lindsey smiles and starts scratching his tummy.

Alicia sits down in her desk chair. "He likes you," she says.

Lindsey looks up at her, smile widening. "What's his name?"

"Mr. Stabbington," Alicia says.

"Inventive."

Alicia shrugs. "It fits him. His claws are horrible. We call him Stabs for short."

Lindsey nods. She scratches behind Stabs's ears for a bit, then pulls away and leans back on her hands. She blinks, then straightens up again. "Sorry, I'm making myself too comfortable."

"No, no," Alicia says. "It's fine."

Lindsey smiles again. "Okay. I just sometimes tend to forget myself. You have a really nice room."

"Thanks," Alicia says. She swivels back and forth on the desk chair. "So?"

"Oh," Lindsey says. "Right. So I was thinking of a cat sculpture?" Alicia nods. "Like, we can come up with the pose together, and, well, I can make it? And then mesh it with something you make, maybe like photographs or something?"

Alicia shrugs one shoulder. A sculpture would work with what she's planned—actually, it'd be pretty perfect for it. She lets out a breath and twists he fingers together.

"I thought I could knit something?" she says tentatively. Her grandma taught her and she's pretty good at it. She's not sure how Lindsey will take to it, if she already assumed Alicia would be taking pictures, but it's something she can do and do well. She bites her lip and waits for Lindsey to respond.

"Oh," Lindsey says. "Oh, dude, that would be so awesome."

"Really?" Alicia asks.

"Yeah," Lindsey says. "You could, like, knit the fur for it. Or maybe just ears? Or a tail! Or a jacket, cats wear jackets, right?"

Alicia feels herself start to grin at Lindsey's clear enthusiasm. "Yeah," she says. "I mean, I don't know about fur. I mean, I could do it, but the yarn you need for that's pretty shitty. But, yeah, something like that."

"Maybe like a hat with cat ears," Lindsey says, and Alicia laughs, she can't help it.

Lindsey grins back. "This is gonna be really great," she says. "Knitting! I thought maybe we'd have to settle for, like, just painting or something, but this is great." 

Alicia raises her eyebrows. "I mean," Lindsey says quickly. "I didn't mean it like that, sorry."

Alicia shakes her head. "That's okay. I'm crap at painting anyway."

Lindsey makes a wry face. "No, I am sorry, though. I didn't expect you to be so game with doing something fun. It's just, most people in our school...well, you know. But I shouldn't have assumed."

Alicia shrugs. She's honestly not too bothered by it. "It's fine. _I_ assumed you'd be harder to work with."

Lindsey laughs. "Well, we've barely just started." She pushes a strand of hair behind her ear and looks down at Stabs.

"Eh, I think it'll be fine," Alicia says. She's unexpectedly charmed by Lindsey, and she _is_ on board with her knitting idea. Alicia's pretty sure not everyone would be.

"Okay," Lindsey says. "So, I'll figure out the body, sketch it out and stuff, and then we can meet up again? See if it works?"

Alicia shrugs. "Sure."

"Great." Lindsey smiles and reaches for her phone. She wrinkles her nose. "Well, that took less time than I thought it would. The place we practice at doesn't open for another half hour."

Alicia clasps her hands. "So you play bass?"

Lindsey looks up. "Yeah. Sort of."

"Can you play something?" Alicia asks. "Uh, now?"

Lindsey tilts her head, gives Alicia a calculating look. Alicia bites the inside of her lower lip. "Yeah, sure," Lindsey says. She gets up and drops to her knees besides the guitar case. Alicia pulls her knees up and wraps her arms around her legs. Lindsey carefully lifts the bass out and settles back on Alicia's bed.

"Uh, it won't sound as good without an amp," Lindsey says.

"I know." Alicia refrains from rolling her eyes. "I play, too."

"Oh," Lindsey says, looking surprised. "Cool. Do you want to, like, jam together or something?"

Alicia shakes her head. "That's fine." She's not as good as she wants to be, yet, and she hasn't had time to practice lately. She'll pick it up again at some point, she figures.

Lindsey nods and breaks into a riff. It's pretty simple, but fun, and she's good at it, her head bobbing along to the rhythm, pigtails bouncing.

"That's really good," Alicia says, and Lindsey looks up to flash her a smile.

"It's for a new song," she says. "It's not finished yet."

"Do you guys, like, perform?" Alicia asks. She goes out pretty often, but she hasn't seen them in any of the clubs or anything.

"Yeah," Lindsey says. "Not a lot, but we have a couple of shows coming up." She shrugs her shoulder, looking nonchalant, but Alicia can tell she's proud.

She gives Lindsey a little smile. "That's really cool."

"Thanks." Lindsey smiles and turns back to the bass. She starts plucking another rhythm and Alicia leans back against her desk and watches Lindsey play.

Lindsey leaves after a little while, stops to scratch Stabs's head at the front door, and gives Alicia a smile and a wave. Alicia watches her bounce down the stairs and hurry off down the street before closing the door behind her. 

~

The next day Lindsey corners Alicia near the lockers, after fifth period. "Hey." She leans against the locker next to Alicia's. Her hair's braided today, the braid already falling apart. She pushes a strand of hair out of her face and smiles at Alicia.

"Hi?" Alicia asks.

"I was just wondering," Lindsey says, "maybe we should meet up every week."

"Oh," Alicia says. She hasn't had a lot of time to make any certain plans yet.

"Just so we can make sure we're both on track. And don't have to do anything last minute."

A loud group of dudes passes them by and they both pull closer to the lockers. Lindsey glares after them and Alicia rolls her eyes.

"So, every week," Alicia prompts. She's actually okay with it, she thinks. As long as she can find the time to get something ready for next time.

Lindsey looks back at her and smiles. "Yeah. Maybe same day? Before band practice. Or if you think we should go to my place, then we can do it some other time?"

Alicia shrugs. "Nah, mine's fine." She likes it, that that means they're both on her territory. That might be weird, but whatever.

"Great," Lindsey says. "So same time next week?" Alicia nods and Lindsey smiles wider. "Awesome. See you then. Oh, don't worry about having, like, a lot ready or anything, just an original mock-up will do so we can co-ordinate and stuff."

"Okay," Alicia says. She'll have to start working on that tonight, then.

"Bye," Lindsey says, and reaches out to quickly brush her hand against Alicia's arm, before leaving.

Alicia blinks in confusion, then grabs her stuff. She has to rush to get to English before the last bell, and she makes it, barely. She takes her seat in the back, finds a blank sheet of paper and starts writing down possible colors and patterns, so she'll know what yarn to get.

~

"Okay," Lindsey says the minute she walks into Alicia's room. "Here's what I have so far." She quickly looks through her bag and pulls out a sketchbook. She indicates for Alicia to come closer, to Alicia walks up next to her, moves to look over shoulder.

"This is the basic mock-up," Lindsey says. It's a cat sitting down, head slightly tilted and tail curled around itself. "So, I do the cat sculpture, and you knit her a blanket to cover her body, and something to cover the end of her tail? Because she's hairless."

"So she'll probably get cold during winter," Alicia says.

"Exactly," Lindsey says. "Anyway, I think that'd really work."

"Yeah," Alicia says. "Um, can I see them closer?"

"Oh, yeah," Lindsey says and hands the plans over. Alicia sits down on her bed and starts flipping through the pages. They're really thorough, a lot of close-ups of the details.

"You'll make it so there's enough room to cover the end of the tail, right?"

"Yeah," Lindsey says, and sits down on the bed as well. She leans in, and points. "See, there'll be a gap there, and I think the blanket should be long enough to reach this spot, so we can make it look kind of seamless, you know?"

Alicia nods. Her hair falls in her face and she brushes it away. "Um, color patterns?"

"Oh, anything would work, I think. The body will be black, so. Maybe we could go for blue and green? Whatever yarn you have."

"I just bought some different shades of orange and blue," Alicia says. She gets up and opens her yarn drawer and takes out the bag. "Here."

Lindsey takes it eagerly and rummages through it. "I think blue," she says. "The bright blue? I mean, we can stick some orange in there, but I think blue overall."

"Yeah," Alicia says. She leans against her desk, and watches Lindsey attempt to juggle with the balls of yarn. She drops one on the floor and Stabs pounces immediately.

"Shit," Lindsey yelps. "No, no, hey, Stabs."

"Mr. Stabbington, stop," Alicia says firmly and crouches down. "Give." Stabs looks over at her, then takes his paw off the yarn, all the while looking put-upon. He turns around and walks off, clearly offended. Alicia picks up the yarn and tosses it back on the bed.

"Whoa," Lindsey says. "That was really impressive."

Alicia shrugs. "I get bored sometimes. I've thought about teaching him to sit on command and stuff, but this seemed more important."

"Uh, yeah," Lindsey says, and laughs. "God, we haven't even been able to train our dog. She has the worst manners."

Alicia smiles. "So, do you have any ideas for a pattern? Or should I just do the regular stitches and just have the colors be the pattern."

"Um," Lindsey says. "Whatever works for you?"

Alicia bites her lip. "Okay." She already has an idea for how she's going to do the tail, but she has to go and buy some new yarn for that. She was also gonna go by the comic store, shit, she totally forgot. "Oh, hey."

"Yeah?" Lindsey asks, when Alicia doesn't say anything. Alicia purses her lips, then looks up at Lindsey.

"Okay, how about a blue blanket with stars on it?"

Lindsey blinks. "Like a—"

"A cape," Alicia says. "And we could still do the tail, like, uh, a tail warmer or whatever, but I can totally get little stars that I can attach to the yarn." Lindsey's staring at her with her mouth open. Alicia shrugs. "Or, well—"

"That is _awesome_ ," Lindsey says. "That's amazing, oh my god, a cat superhero!"

Alicia grins. "It would work, right?"

"Yeah," Lindsey says. "It totally would. I love it."

"Okay," Alicia says. "So. Doing that, then."

"Totally," Lindsey says, nodding. "It'll be great." She smiles again, then glances at her phone. "I should go. We talked about starting a bit earlier today."

"Yeah, I just remembered I should head out as well," Alicia says. She gathers up the yarn and puts it back in the drawer, while Lindsey gets her things.

Alicia grabs her bag and wallet and they walk out together. The store is in the opposite direction from where Lindsey's headed, so Alicia stops at the end of their driveway. "I'm heading that way. So, uh, see you."

Lindsey adjusts her bag. "Um, I was thinking," she says. "You should come check it out. The practice. I mean, if you want to?"

Alicia chews on her lip. "Yeah?"

"Sure," Lindsey says. "If you're not in a hurry?"

Alicia nods slowly. The comic book store doesn't close until eight, so she technically has enough time to swing by. If Lindsey wants her to. She's not totally sure why Lindsey's inviting her along, but. She does want to go, she realizes. It might be awkward, but it could also be fun, and she wants to see how good they are. "Yeah," she says. "Okay."

Lindsey grins. "Awesome.

~

The practice is interesting. Lindsey introduces her around, and everyone seems nice and welcoming. There's Kitty, whom Alicia has seen around, and Jimmy and Steve.

Alicia figures that they're busy, so she gets out of the way and settles in on the couch in the room. They fiddle with the instruments for a bit, but then Kitty comes and sits down next to her. "You're doing that art project together, right?"

Alicia nods.

"Yeah, Lindsey said that's going pretty well."

Alicia shrugs. "Yeah, I guess."

Kitty tilts her head. "We have French together, right?"

Alicia nods again. "I think?" She pulls at her sleeves.

Kitty smirks at her. "Well, Linds said she was pleased with the project."

Alicia blinks. She's not sure what Kitty's really looking for here.

Kitty sighs. "Usually she complains about every single group project. At length. So you must be pretty good."

Alicia raises her eyebrows. "Should I say thank you?"

Kitty laughs. "I like you. That's an observation, not a compliment you need to respond to." Alicia rolls her eyes and Kitty smiles at her, seemingly genuine. "Well, enjoy the show." She gets up to join the band, leaving Alicia alone on the couch.

"Let's do Jolene first," Jimmy says, and they launch into the song. They sound pretty decent, but they don't get far before Jimmy screws something up and the rest of them groan and laugh.

Alicia leans back on the couch and crosses her legs. Lindsey's leaning against an amp, focused on her bass. She glances up and catches Alicia's eye, smiles. Alicia quirks her lips in reply, and Lindsey looks back down.

She stays for three and a half songs before begging off. Lindsey walks up to her as she's rummaging through her bag looking for her phone. "So, what did you think?"

Alicia shrugs. "It was pretty good."

"Yeah, it tends to take us a while to get serious."

"They seem fun," Alicia says. "Your band." Mostly they come off as slightly annoying, but Alicia didn't really mind much. "Kitty's cool."

"She's great," Lindsey says. "So you had fun?" She bites her lip.

Alicia shrugs again. "Yeah, sure. I mean, everything's more fun than revising for Bio, but. Thanks for inviting me." Sure, it was kind of boring and awkward at times, but Alicia liked watching them play. Well, watching Lindsey and Kitty play, at least.

Lindsey smiles, and pulls Alicia into a quick hug. "I'm glad you came."

Alicia widens her eyes for a moment, then quickly schools her expression and smiles. "Well, see you."

It's colder outside than she expected, and she pulls her coat tighter. She needs some new gloves before winter comes. Maybe she'll work on that after they're done with the project. She realizes she's not looking forward to it as much as she was in the beginning.

~

Alicia's curled up in bed, working on the tail, with Stabs at her feet, when Lindsey texts her.

_help! Which one?_

There's a picture attached with Lindsey holding up two cat eyes in front of her own, her mouth turned down at the corners. Alicia grins and leans in, squints at the picture. She can't really make out the differences between the two and not just because her eyes keep being drawn to Lindsey's lips. Her phone beeps with a new message.

_here's a better pic :D_

It's a close-up of both the eyes; Alicia sucks on her lower lip, then texts back.

_the one on the right. I like the color_

She purses her lips, then sets the knitting on the side and climbs out of bed to rummage around in her yarn drawer. Stabs meows and jumps out of bed, pads up to her.

"Go back to bed, Stabs," Alicia says. He meows again and rubs himself against her legs.

"Ah, here." Alicia pulls out the bright green yarn, pleased. That should do it. She tosses it around, considering it. She'll give it a go, try to incorporate little dots into the tail.

She settles back on the bed, and picks up her phone, then bites her lip. She wants it to be a surprise, really, but maybe it'll be better to check in with Lindsey first.

Her phone beeps and she almost drops it.

_thanks! Def going w/ that. See you tomorrow?_

Alicia sinks lower on the bed; it's still early but the knitting's tiring her eyes, making her sleepy.

 _yeah_ , she sends back. _after class like always_

_great, okay. See you then_

Alicia blinks and runs a hand through her hair. She yawns suddenly, then sighs. "Well, fuck, Stabs." Stabs doesn't react, and Alicia rolls her eyes. She's probably had enough of knitting for tonight, but she wants to try out the dots for the tail. It's not exactly inspired, but she wants to add _something_ to the tail.

Stabs stretches out and rubs his head against the bed spread, and Alicia runs her eyes over his body. She reaches for her bedside table and picks up the beginning of the tail. She flips back to the picture of the eyes on her phone. There's a zigzag pattern over the one she chose, serving as the eyelid, she guesses. She noticed it before, but now— "That would totally work."

She shoots up from the bed, and grabs another pad of paper and a pen. A couple of minutes later and she has a pattern she's satisfied with. She yawns again and presses her gingers to her eyelids. "Fuck." Fine, she'll work on it tomorrow.

She stares at the bed, then sighs. Stabs turns over to his back, his paws up in the air. Alicia suddenly remembers Lindsey sitting on her bed, scratching Stabs's tummy. She blinks, then shakes her head. She can't ignore the little thrill she gets when thinking about seeing Lindsey tomorrow, so she doesn't even bother. Fuck it.

She gathers her knitting supplies and puts them on her desk, checks whether she has everything. She breathes out deeply, and heads into the bathroom. She glances in the mirror and is the slightest bit taken aback to see that she's smiling. She bites her lip, then grins again. She can't help it.

~

Alicia has to rush by the store after school since it turns out they're out of milk and bread and her mom doesn't have time to do it. So she's antsy by the time Lindsey's supposed to get there. She's sweating a bit, but she doesn't have time to shower. She just changes out of her shirt and ties her hair up, trying to cool down.

Lindsey shows up right on time, smiling up at Alicia from the doorway.

"Hey," Alicia says. "Uh, come on." Lindsey follows her up the stairs to her room, puts her bass down in the usual corner, dropping her bag next to it. She crouches down to look through it, then straightens up slowly. Alicia frowns.

"I'm sorry," Lindsey says, "I only brought some pictures with me. I totally forgot to measure it, but I don't think it's changed much from what we agreed on. Anyway, here." She hands Alicia her phone.

"No, that's fine," Alicia says, and sits on her desk chair, starts scrolling through them. It's pretty close to the original sketches Lindsey showed her, but, well, now it's a real sculpture. There's also something extra to it, something that tells you that this cat is powerful. Alicia really likes it.

Lindsey settles on Alicia's bed. She pulls her feet up, then pats the bed. "Come on, Stabs." Stabs jumps on the bed and curls up next to Lindsey's thighs. Lindsey smiles down at him and runs her hand through his fur. Her bangs are falling in her eyes. She looks tired. Alicia blinks and looks back at the phone.

"This looks really great," Alicia says.

"Thanks," Lindsey says. "I still need to finish the paws and detail the face. But it'll get done in time, I promise."

"No, I know," Alicia says. "It's good. And we have time." She gives Lindsey her phone back. Their fingers brush. "Um, I was actually thinking of trying something with the knitting?"

"Okay." Lindsey tugs her hair bands off and shakes her head, her hair falling over her shoulders. "Fuck, that wasn't a good idea," she says, and presses a hand to her forehead. "My head's killing me."

Alicia makes a sympathetic sound. "Do you want anything? Ibuprofen?"

Lindsey glances at her from under her eyelashes. Her face looks pretty white. "Please?" she asks.

Alicia gets her ibuprofen and water. Lindsey swallows the pill and drinks half the glass, then sighs. "Shit, sorry. I should probably go home."

Alicia shrugs. It's clear Lindsey's feeling pretty shitty; Alicia feels bad for her. "You can stay for a bit, if you're not up to taking the bus."

Lindsey has her eyes closed and she's breathing deeply, in and out. She opens her eyes after a bit and blinks a little. "Yeah, okay," she says. "I'm fine. Show me what you were thinking about?"

Alicia gets her knitting out and holds it up to Lindsey. "I was thinking of incorporating the pattern you used in the eyes?"

Lindsey purses her lips. "That'd be cool. Can you show me a bit of it?"

Alicia nods and grabs the paper she had drawn the pattern on, and starts knitting a part of it. Lindsey doesn't say anything, just lets her work.

It takes a bit, but she finally has something she's satisfied with. She looks up, to show Lindsey, and freezes.

Lindsey's lying on her bed, eyes shut, face relaxed. She's deep asleep, hand resting on her stomach, chest rising and falling slowly. She doesn't look as pale as before, her breathing steady, hair falling around her. Stabs is curled up near Lindsey's feet, head pressed against her ankle.

Alicia swallows hard. Her stomach has gone tight, uncomfortably so. She can't look away.

It feels like Lindsey _fits_ , like she belongs on that bed. It's something Alicia doesn't think about, because when Lindsey is here she doesn't get the chance, Lindsey demands all of her attention. And when she's gone, Alicia doesn't—there's nothing to think about, then.

Lindsey's phone starts buzzing on the bed next to her, and Alicia starts a little. Lindsey doesn't wake, though, just grumbles and turns to her side, away from Alicia and the phone, jostling Stabs in the process. Stabs looks properly outraged for a second, but then he just drops back down and stretches out on his back.

Alicia gets up and reaches for the phone. It's Kitty calling. Alicia bites her lip, then shrugs. She hits "reject", then taps out a quick text.

_Hey, Alicia here. L had a headache and is sleeping._

_:( hope she feels better soon. Tell her to call me when she can, k._

Alicia sets Lindsey's phone down and grabs her hair bands, because otherwise Stabs will steal them when he wakes up, and gets back to knitting.

Lindsey sleeps for about an hour, long enough for Alicia's mom to pop her head in and ask whether her friend is staying for dinner. She raises her eyebrows in Lindsey's direction in question, and Alicia shrugs. "She had a headache," she says. "And I don't know. I'll ask when she wakes up?"

"Okay, honey," her mom says. "Dinner's in about an hour."

"Yeah, okay," Alicia says. Her body's finally starting to protest the position she's in. She shifts a little, and sighs, puts the knitting away.

Lindsey stirs then and kicks her legs out, upsetting Stabs. Stabs hisses and jumps off the bed. Alicia watches Lindsey blink sleepily for a few seconds before her eyes widen and she pushes herself to sit up.

"Shit," Lindsey says. "What time is it?"

"Six," Alicia says, glancing at the clock.

" _Shit_ ," Lindsey repeats. "Band practice."

"Yeah, uh, Kitty called," Alicia says. "I told her you had a headache. She said you should call her when you can."

Lindsey's still wide-eyed, but she relaxes a little at that. "Oh. Shit, I'm sorry."

Alicia shakes her head. "Don't worry about it," she says. "How's your head?"

Lindsey cracks her neck. "Better," she says. "Yeah, much better." She furrows her brow, then shakes her head.

Alicia looks down to hide her smile. "Mom asked if you want to stay for dinner."

"Oh," Lindsey says. "No, I should really be getting home. But thanks."

Alicia shrugs. Lindsey scoots forward on the bed, her skirt riding up a little. She runs a hand through her hair and frowns. "Where's—"

"Oh, here," Alicia says and gets up to hand her the hair bands. Their fingers brush, and Alicia swallows hard and turns away.

It's not like there was a literal fucking spark, or whatever, and no shiver ran through her. But Lindsey's still sleepy-eyed, her hair a mess and her face open, and she's on Alicia's bed and she's really pretty. It makes her stomach feel funny.

Alicia clears her throat, eyes scouring her room. "Oh, I was gonna show you—" She gets the knitting and holds it up to Lindsey. "Like this? I got most of it done, actually."

Lindsey blinks rapidly, then nods. "Yeah. Yeah, that really works. It's great."

Alicia smiles. "Thanks."

Lindsey puts her hair up in a ponytail and sighs heavily. "Okay, well, I should go." She gets up and throws her bag over her shoulder, picks up her guitar.

Alicia walks her downstairs and leans against the doorway. Lindsey turns around on the porch and smiles. "See you tomorrow."

Alicia furrows her brow, confused.

"I mean at school," Lindsey says. "Meet up in a week, yeah? I think we're almost done with it."

"Oh," Alicia says, and swallows. "Yeah. So, uh, see you."

"Tell your mom thanks for the invite. Uh, maybe next time?"

"Yeah," Alicia says, and nods. "Bye."

"So your friend didn't want to stay?" her mom asks when she walks into the kitchen.

"She had to get home. She said to tell you thanks, though."

Her mom nods thoughtfully. "Maybe next time I'll actually get to talk to her."

Alicia shrugs. "Yeah, maybe. I mean, we're just doing an art project together, so."

Her mom smiles at her. "Well, is she nice?"

Alicia shrugs again. "Yeah, sure." She thinks back to Lindsey on her bed, her long hair framing her face, her skirt riding up, and hopes to fuck she isn't blushing. "She's great."

~

Alicia's putting finishing touches on the tail when there's a quick knock on the door.

"Yeah."

"Hey." It's Lindsey. Alicia blinks up at her, then glances at her phone. No, yeah, Lindsey's at least fifteen minutes early. "Sorry, I got here early. Your mom let me in."

"Oh," Alicia says. "I mean—hi. Come in."

Lindsey bounces into the room—literally bounces—and sets her bass in the corner. Alicia puts her knitting down and scoots forward on the bed, raises her eyebrows.

"I have it almost done," Lindsey says. "I made paper mock-ups of it at first so I took those with me. They're the exact same size. Oh, _and_ I took more pictures. So I hope we can make sure that things are still on track and get it put together this weekend." She's jittering, and Alicia smiles, curious.

"What's going on?"

Lindsey takes a deep breath. "We got a gig at Revolution," she says, beaming. She bounces on her feet a little, then giggles. "Oh my god."

Alicia smiles wide. "That's fucking awesome."

"I know!" Lindsey grins. "Someone canceled so it's like a last minute thing, and we're just one of the openers, but it's a _gig_."

"At Revolution," Alicia adds.

"Exactly!" Lindsey giggles again, then takes a deep breath. "Wow. Are you gonna come? You should totally come."

"Oh," Alicia says, surprised for some reason. Of course Lindsey would want as many people as possible to come. And they're sort of friends, now, Alicia guesses. It's not at all weird for her to invite Alicia.

Lindsey's looking at her with wide, happy eyes, and Alicia nods. "Yeah, definitely."

Lindsey beams and rushes forward, sits down on the bed and pulls Alicia into a hug. She clings on tight; Alicia wraps her arms around Lindsey's waist, surprised but pleased. It's great to see Lindsey so happy, it's fucking adorable.

Lindsey squeezes her and pulls back, still smiling. She clasps her hands together and stretches her elbows out. "It's gonna be awesome. Oh, fuck, we have to practice, like, every day." Her gaze goes unfocused, then she snaps back. She jumps up. "Okay, so, the mock-ups. Can we do that now, see if it all fits? Sorry, I probably have to run soon, meet up with the band and stuff."

Alicia nods, eyebrows raised. "Yeah, sure. Uh. When _is_ the show?"

"Oh," Lindsey says. "This Friday. Oh, shit, I should have—you probably have plans." She looks dejected, suddenly, and Alicia blinks.

She does have plans, but this time they're mostly of the "hang out with Sarah and Elissa and see who else comes along" variety. "No, I'm good," she says. "I'll totally be there."

Lindsey exhales slowly, then laughs. "Okay. Great. Okay, the cat?" She turns to her bag and starts pulling out her stuff. Alicia watches the way a free strand of hair falls in Lindsey's face, how she pushes it behind her ear. She bites her lip.

She's not completely sure what's going on here, but she knows that she's so, totally fucked. And strangely okay with it.

~

Alicia's jittering. Sarah and Elissa were more than game to come along to Revolution, so now they're all standing near the wall on the left side and waiting for Lindsey's band to go on. And Alicia's jittering.

"Dude," Sarah says. "You need another drink."

Alicia lets out a breath. "I'm fine. I'm just—weird energy, I don't know." She gets like that sometimes before shows, that annoying shivering that won't let up, but this is different. It's better; she's just excited, excited to see how good Lindsey is up there. She's nervous for Lindsey, too, but mostly excited. Everyone knows they're a last-minute addition to the night, and the crowd seems pleased enough, there shouldn't be any trouble, even if they end up sucking.

"You've seen them practice, right?" Sarah asks. "How were they?"

Alicia shrugs. "Fine." She sees Elissa raise her eyebrows, and adds, "I don't know, I only saw them do, like, three songs. And they weren't really _on_ , you know. It was just practice."

She's curious about how different they'll be here, how different Lindsey will be.

Sarah turns back to the stage, leans a little into Alicia's space. "Well, I guess we'll see."

The band comes on stage then, the houselights going down again. Alicia chews on her lip for a moment, then bumps against Sarah. She's excited. 

Her gaze passes over the band and falls right on Lindsey. She's wearing another short skirt—this one is black, one that Alicia doesn't think she's seen before—and striped knee-high socks, and a vest and a white shirt. Her mouth's a deep red and her hair's down. She's fucking gorgeous.

Jimmy introduces them, and then they burst right into the first song. They sound pretty decent—solid enough, and the crowd seems into it. Alicia keeps her eye on Lindsey, who is stalking around the stage, looking so fucking hot with the bass in her hands. Alicia figured her practice mode was nothing like her stage mode, but it's still cool to see.

About halfway into the song, Lindsey plants her feet and bends backwards, and then just fucking _keeps going_ till her hair is touching the floor. Alicia gasps in a breath.

"Whoa," she hears Sarah shout next to her. "That is fucking impressive."

"Yeah," Alicia agrees. Lindsey stays like that for a moment before straightening up again. Alicia's never seen someone pull off a move like that without falling on their ass. It's incredibly hot. Alicia swallows hard and presses a hand to her stomach. She can barely take her eyes off Lindsey for the whole show.

The band wraps up after half an hour, to cheers from the crowd. Alicia claps and whoops along with the rest, her hands tingling. She's sweating, and she wonders whether her make-up is running. Hopefully not.

"You gonna go say hi?" Sarah asks right next to Alicia's ear.

Alicia shrugs. She knows some of the employees, and the backstage area here is pretty easy to get to, if you don't look too eager. "You guys gonna wait here?"

"Yeah," Sarah says, and Elissa nods. "Don't be too long, okay."

Alicia finds Lindsey right backstage, putting her stuff away. Lindsey grins when she notices Alicia and walks right up to her.

"Hey," Alicia says. "You were great."

"Thanks." Lindsey beams at her, her face flushed and hair curling around her neck. "I—really?" She doesn't sound unsure or anything, just excited.

"Of course," Alicia says. "Plus, I did not know you could move like that." She cocks her hip a little, licks her lips. What the hell. If Lindsey's interested, she'll pick up on it. If not...

Lindsey tilts her head and her smile turns sly. "Yeah? It's my secret trick."

"Yeah?"

"I only bring it out to impress someone."

Alicia swallows hard, a bit thrown. "The crowd?"

Lindsey shakes her head and steps closer, curls her fingers around Alicia's elbow. "You."

Alicia blinks and takes a deep breath. She leans forward. The kiss is chaste at first, just her lips against Lindsey's, but then Lindsey's other hand settles on Alicia's side, fingers digging in. Alicia takes it as a hint, so she wraps her arms around Lindsey's waist and pushes her tongue into Lindsey's mouth, teasing, tasting.

Lindsey makes an encouraging noise and deepens the kiss, pulls Alicia flush against her.

It's not the hottest kiss Alicia's had, they're in public and everyone's clothes are on, but it's Lindsey in her arms, warm and enthusiastic, and Alicia really fucking likes her.

Lindsey pushes her leg between Alicia's thighs, and Alicia gasps into her mouth. She can feel Lindsey grinning, and bites at her lower lip, teasing. She wants more, wants to push Lindsey against a wall, wrap herself around Lindsey and kiss her till they can't breathe. She wants to go down on her—the want coursing through her unexpected, surprising, and so fucking good.

She liked Lindsey, she knew that, but she didn't expect it to feel this good, for Lindsey's body to fit so well against hers.

They're interrupted by someone clearing their throat. Alicia pulls away reluctantly, but keeps a hold on Lindsey's waist.

It's Kitty, looking amused but, Alicia thinks, in a good way. "Sorry, Linds, we gotta pack up our shit."

"I should go find my friends," Alicia says, and lets go of Lindsey. She presses her hands into fists, so she's not tempted to reach out again.

"Yeah," Lindsey says. She's smiling a little. She reaches up to push a lock of hair behind her ear. "Okay."

"Right," Alicia says, and turns to go.

"Wait." Lindsey grabs hold of her wrist, and Alicia pauses. "We—have to put the project together this weekend. So. Don't forget." She squeezes Alicia's wrist.

"I won't," Alicia says. Lindsey smiles, and nods and lets go. Alicia gives both her and Kitty a little wave, before going back to her girls.

She finds Sarah, waiting almost in the spot she left her. "Hey." Sarah raises her eyebrows.

"What?" Alicia asks.

Sarah snorts. "Your lipstick's a mess." Oh, shit. Alicia forgot she was wearing the super red one today. She...well, she wanted to impress, too.

Alicia touches a finger to her mouth. "Oops." Whatever, she'll fix it later.

"So," Sarah says. "Lindsey?" Alicia squints at her. Sarah rolls her eyes. "I'm just saying, I think it's great. If she's great. You really like her, right?"

Alicia furrows her brow. 

"You're smiling," Elissa says, appearing on Alicia's right arm. "It's fucking adorable."

"I'm often smiling," Alicia says.

"Not this smile," Sarah says. "Not after kissing."

"Usually you look smug," Elissa says. "Now you just look pleased, but in a happy way."

"It's really creepy you're analyzing this," Alicia says.

Elissa shrugs. "We're bored. And creepy. Can we go now? Or are you gonna go hang out with your girlfriend?"

Alicia crosses her arms. "She's not my girlfriend."

Sarah squints at her. "Yet?"

Alicia shrugs. "Maybe. Yes. I don't know."

"Awesome," Elissa says. She's smiling, though. "Come on, let's go find some-place else. Things got super boring. I can't even look at that band on stage, what the fuck is that."

Alicia turns to the stage, and yeah, that's—that just should not be happening. "Okay, let's go."

She follows Sarah and Elissa out of the club. She tries to catch a glimpse of Lindsey, but she's nowhere to be seen. Alicia lets out a breath, and thinks about what Lindsey said, how it sounded like a promise, how she squeezed her hand. Alicia smiles.

~

Lindsey sends her a text the next afternoon.

_hey, we should probably put the project together today._

_yeah, sure_. Alicia taps out the reply, then puts her phone down on the bed and goes to collect her stuff. It's all ready to go, laid out in her second drawer, hidden from Stabs's claws. He jumps up onto the desk when she opens the drawer, curious, and Alicia pushes him away. He meows accusingly and hops down, curling up on her bed instead.

Her phone beeps and she turns to grab it. Her stomach goes tight, in a pleasant way, when she sees Lindsey's reply.

_you should come over. It'll be easier that way. (plus, my parents won't be home till late.)_

She's included her address as well. Alicia bites her lip and looks over at Stabs. "What do you think?" Stabs doesn't even bother to turn his head to look at her. "Yeah," Alicia says. "Okay."

She sends off a quick text, carefully packs up her knitting, grabs her bag, and pushes Stabs off the bed and out the door. Stabs makes an offended sound, and Alicia grins. "Sorry, dude, you had your chance." She leans down and scratches Stabs behind the ears. "This is mine."

~

Lindsey opens the door, grinning. Alicia can't help but smile back. "Hi."

"Hey," Lindsey says, and steps back to let her in.

Alicia lifts her shoulders, exhales, feeling a bit nervous. "So."

"So, it's in my bedroom," Lindsey says. Alicia raises her eyebrows, smiling, and Lindsey laughs. "Come on." Alicia toes her shoes off and follows Lindsey upstairs.

Lindsey's room is really nice, beige tones with splashes of red and blue. Her bass is sitting in the corner and there are prints on the walls. "It's nice," Alicia says.

Lindsey grins. "Thanks. Uh, ta-da." She points at the cat sculpture on her desk. It's beautiful; the face is so detailed, and the body is smooth and lovely. Alicia gets out her cape and tail and drops her bag on the floor. She steps closer and runs a finger over the cat's back.

"Shame to cover it up," she says.

Lindsey scoffs. "Don't be ridiculous. I mean—thanks, but. Come on, let's put it on."

Alicia sets the cape on first, arranging it just right. The tail goes second; Lindsey holds up the cat as Alicia slips it on. Alicia straightens the cape again, and steps to the side to get a better look.

"Oh," Lindsey breathes. "Oh, that's perfect." She grins at Alicia, then back at the sculpture. "Fuck, that's so fucking great."

Alicia leans against the desk and smiles. It does look great, the colors and patterns working really well with each other, and it looks fun.

Lindsey claps her hands together, then grabs Alicia's forearm and pulls her away from the desk, twirls her around to face her. "I think we should celebrate."

Alicia arks one eyebrow. "Yeah?"

Lindsey leans in, still grinning, and kisses her.

Alicia immediately settles her hands on Lindsey's hips, and pulls her closer. The kiss is soft and sweet at first, but then Lindsey grabs hold of Alicia's shoulders and the kiss deepens. Alicia finally breaks away breathlessly, and leans her forehead against Lindsey's, panting.

She pulls back so she can look Lindsey in the eye. "Hey," Alicia says.

"Hi." Lindsey grins. "So, have I mentioned that I really like you?"

Alicia tilts her head, and makes a thoughtful face. "Actually, no."

Lindsey leans forward and pecks her on the mouth, whispers, "Well, I do."

Alicia hums. "Excellent."

Suddenly a pop song starts playing, and Lindsey jumps. "Shit, I forgot to turn off my phone."

Alicia takes a deep breath and runs a hand through her hair, watching Lindsey fiddle with her phone.

Lindsey's wearing a loose shirt, a worn short skirt, and thigh-highs. Alicia wants to fuck her. She wants to eat her out and only _then_ pull Lindsey's socks off. Wants to see her spread out on the bed, skirt rucked up, panting and sweaty, her hair a mess. She can picture it so well in her head, and she's determined to make it happen.

Lindsey puts the phone away and looks up at Alicia, smiles. "Sorry about that."

"So," Alicia says, and swallows hard.

Lindsey walks forward, and sits down on her bed. "So?" She's grinning, still.

Alicia purses her lips. "How—much do you like me?"

Lindsey's smile turns sweet, her gaze going soft. "Come here," she says, and pulls Alicia down on the bed. She leans in and kisses her, tongue pushing into Alicia's mouth, her hands on Alicia's hips.

Alicia sighs, and melts against Lindsey, snakes her arms around her waist. They kiss like that for a while, but Alicia wants more. She shifts even closer and her hands fall to Lindsey's skirt. She trails them down till her fingertips touch skin. "Fuck," she moans, and drags her fingernails over the skin of Lindsey's thighs. "Linds, you're so hot."

Lindsey grins against her mouth, and tangles her fingers in Alicia's hair. She moves to kiss Alicia's jaw, her neck. She strokes the sensitive spot behind Alicia's ear and presses her lips to her cheek, fuck.

Alicia gasps in a breath, briefly closes her eyes. She blinks them open again—she wants to see Lindsey's reaction. "Can I go down on you?" 

Lindsey makes an o with her lips, then nods fast. "Fuck, yes. Yeah, definitely." Alicia smashes their lips together and runs her hands over Lindsey's thighs. Lindsey grabs hold of her hands, and pulls them away. "Hold on." Alicia pulls back, and Lindsey scoots backwards on the bed, her legs falling open.

Alicia swallows hard. She pushes Lindsey's skirt up, lowers her head to kiss Lindsey's inner thigh. Her panties are a bright orange, and Alicia can see she's wet, can smell her. She moves to tug Lindsey's panties down, Lindsey tilting her hips up to help. Alicia's so fucking turned on, cursing the jeans she's wearing. She leans down and buries her face in Lindsey's pubic hair, tongues at Lindsey's clit. Fuck, the taste of her.

Lindsey gasps above her, and grabs at Alicia's hair. "Fuck, Alicia. Been wanting this for—ah, fuck."

Alicia pushes her tongue inside and Lindsey shakes, bucks up. Alicia pulls back, and looks up. "Yeah?"

Lindsey tugs at her hair again. "Fuck. Fuck, Alicia, just—" Alicia goes back to tongue-fucking her, and Lindsey's thighs quiver, pressed against Alicia's head. "So long. Since you fucking—fuck, you fucking smiled at me. Fuck, you're amazing."

Alicia grins quickly, and keeps going, until Lindsey's just babbling, gasping, and clenching around Alicia. She laughs when she comes, a high-pitched, happy giggle. Alicia grins up at her, strokes her thigh. 

Her face is wet and Lindsey's smell and taste are overwhelming her, and she is _so_ close to coming herself, her panties soaked, she just needs to get her fucking jeans off. She sits up and fumbles with her fly, finally gets it undone and tugs the pants off. She doesn't bother with the panties, just starts stroking herself.

"Licia, Alicia. C'mere." Lindsey pushes herself up and then she's kissing Alicia, pushing her tongue into Alicia's mouth, her hands twisted in Alicia's hair, while Alicia finally, fucking _finally_ gets herself off. Alicia makes a soft keening noise, and shudders, and Lindsey wraps her arms around her.

Alicia buries her face in Lindsey's neck and gasps for breath. "Fuck. Oh, fuck."

Lindsey hums happily. "That was so fucking good."

Alicia smiles, hides it against Lindsey's neck. Her face is still slightly wet. "Yeah, fuck. You're amazing."

She pulls back after a bit, momentarily not sure how to proceed, but Lindsey just lies down on the bed and pulls Alicia with her. Alicia doesn't really feel like moving up so she just flops down where she is, her head next to Lindsey's stomach. "So, this is a secret," Lindsey says. "But I really fucking like to cuddle. So you should really come up here."

Alicia smiles softly. "A secret?"

"Sort of a secret," Lindsey says. "Come on."

"In a bit," Alicia says. She likes it here. She smooths her hand over Lindsey's skirt, pushes her shirt up, and moves so she's resting her head on Lindsey's stomach. Lindsey's stomach is pale and soft, and Alicia likes it.

"Okay," Lindsey says, and buries her hand in Lindsey's hair. "I guess this is good, too." Alicia's sure she can hear the smile in her voice.

They stay like that for a while, Alicia dozing lightly. Her jeans are still somewhere around her thighs, and it should be uncomfortable, but it's warm in the room and Lindsey's stroking her hair. It should be weird, that they're so familiar with each other, but it's not—the awkwardness is just not there. Alicia likes it.

"So, we're presenting the project on Monday," Lindsey says. Alicia nods, cheek rubbing against the skin of Lindsey's belly. "I'm going to the music store tomorrow," says Lindsey. "Wanna come? We could get something to eat and stuff."

"Yeah," Alicia says. "That would be fun."

Lindsey pauses in stroking Alicia's hair, then says, "And we could go to the movies next weekend? I wanna see that new sci-fi thing. My parents will be out again, too." Alicia purses her lips, but before she gets the chance to respond, Lindsey says, "I mean, you probably want to go to a show with your friends. I just—"

Alicia digs her fingers gently into Lindsey's thigh. "Yeah," she says. "I planned on going to this new club on Friday." She cranes her neck, looks up at Lindsey. "Do you want to come?"

Lindsey blinks. "No. I mean, yeah, I do. Totally."

Alicia raises her eyebrow. "As my girlfriend," she clarifies. It's what she wants. Going after what she wants has been turning out pretty well lately.

Lindsey beams. "Yeah."

"Okay." Alicia lays her head down again. "We can do movies Saturday. Oh, and my parents will be out till Sunday morning."

Lindsey tugs at her hair, and Alicia laughs.

~

Alicia helps Lindsey set up the sculpture—they'd named it Bowie. It seemed fitting. They're the second presenters. Alicia's been nervous about this since the morning, especially since she and Lindsey don't share any of the previous classes, but she's feeling a bit better now.

She works hard to keep from crossing her arms; she kind of wants to just put her hands on her hips, but that might look a bit too confrontational. She glances at Lindsey, who smiles at her and then turns to the class.

Alicia shifts closer to Lindsey and lets her take on the introduction and explanation, lets her describe their process. The class seems pretty impressed, or at least curious enough. Alicia glances at Mrs. Lee who looks approving.

Alicia's proud of what they ended up with, really proud, but she's never been the one to like doing presentations. Lindsey carries it well, though, and Alicia only has to talk about her inspiration for the patterns.

"And, well, we're really pleased with it," Lindsey finishes. "And we had a great time doing it, which, I think, is definitely what art should be about."

Alicia nods. "Definitely." Mrs. Lee claps, a few students joining in, and Alicia feels her shoulders relax.

Lindsey beams at Alicia, the smile making her eyes crinkle, and Alicia grins back. They pack up Bowie and settle down to watch the rest of the presentations. Lindsey presses her knee against Alicia's and leans slightly into her space, her eyes fixed on the next group. Alicia doesn't try to hide her smile.

~

_Two months later_

Lindsey settles on her bed and pulls her legs under herself. Alicia bites her lip and watches Lindsey open her present. Lindsey gets the wrapping open and pauses. Alicia can see a smile spreading over her face.

"You made me a hat with cat ears," Lindsey says.

Alicia shrugs, smiling. "Thought you'd like it."

Lindsey puts it on and grins. "It's amazing. Fuck. You're amazing."

Alicia smiles wider, shrugs her shoulders. "I try." The hat is black with fuzzy little ears. It's pretty simple, but she thinks it came out really cute, and it looks adorable on Lindsey.

Lindsey leans forward and kisses her, still smiling. "Want to see what I got you?"

Alicia makes a thoughtful face. "No. Not really."

Lindsey laughs and shoves at her shoulder, leans in for another kiss. "Come on."

It's a diorama of Alicia and Stabs. They're on Alicia's bed—Alicia squints and yeah, it looks like she's knitting—and behind them is a bright blue sky, and trees and mountains and even a waterfall. It's gorgeous.

"Wow," she says. "I—wow. That's amazing." She looks up at Lindsey, who's smiling softly at her. "Thank you."

Lindsey shrugs, and wraps her arms around Alicia. "I'm glad you like it."

"Of course I do," Alicia says, and presses a kiss to Lindsey's cheek. She pulls back to kiss Lindsey properly, gets lost in it. Fuck, she is so gone for this girl.

They finally come up for air, Lindsey laughing delightedly. "Come on," she says. "Dinner's probably ready. You know mom wants to gush over you."

Alicia rolls her eyes, and smiles. Lindsey's mom has been super nice to her; actually, both their parents have been really great. Lindsey takes her hand, and they walk downstairs together.


End file.
